Myst, Might, Mayhem (Novel) - Chapter 40 - Dangerous Visit (2)

Chapter 40 – Dangerous Visit (2)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Because I need the head of the young master you serve, Uncle.”

‘!?’

At those words from Ha Chae-rin, the Sect Leader of the Flying Assassin Sect, Guard Gochan was at a loss for words for a moment.

He had wondered for what purpose she intended to enter Yeon Mok Sword Manor, but this could not help but bewilder him.

“W-what do you mean by that?”

“Exactly what you heard. I came to take the head of the one called Mok Gyeong-un.”

Gochan’s mind grew tangled.

Assassins had several rules.

One of them was that, so long as they belonged to the sect, killing without a commission was forbidden.

That was true even for the sect leader.

Gochan swallowed dryly and asked,

“…….Did you receive a commission?”

“No.”

“Pardon?”

At the swift answer, Gochan frowned.

She had come to take Mok Gyeong-un’s head without receiving a commission, so what did that mean?

To him, as he stood there puzzled, Ha Chae-rin twirled her hair around her finger and said,

“I received one piece of information from someone in Yeon Mok Sword Manor.”

“If it was information?”

“Intermediate assassin Number Twenty-Nine.”

-Thump!

For an instant, Gochan’s heart pounded hard.

Intermediate assassin Number Twenty-Nine.

‘Senior Brother Gam.’

It was the assassin number of his senior brother, Gam I-cheong.

Toying with the chin of Gochan, whose face had gone stiff, Ha Chae-rin said,

“I heard that Number Twenty-Nine, no, Uncle Gam, was killed by Mok Gyeong-un, the third young master of the Mok family.”

“………”

“It was unexpected. To think the third young master of the Mok family, who is no more than third-rate, killed a first-rate expert who in his day had been an intermediate assassin of the Flying Assassin Sect and whose record was fairly respectable.”

“………”

“But besides that, there is something even stranger. If I remember right, Uncle Gam was Uncle Go’s supervising senior. Then why is Uncle Go still remaining at Mok Gyeong-un’s side?”

“………”

At that question from her, Gochan was left speechless.

He was extremely troubled over how he should answer.

If he said he had submitted to that bastard, then although he had retired, it felt as though she would harm him for having once ignored the death of someone from the same sect, while if he kept his mouth shut, it seemed he would be placed in a bad situation in its own way.

‘Damn it.’

After agonizing in that instant, Gochan finally parted his lips.

“…….I had no choice because I needed to wait for an opportunity.”

“An opportunity?”

“Because a considerable amount of time has passed since I retired, with my current skill I could not immediately do anything to that Mok family bastard who killed my senior brother.”

At those words from Gochan, Ha Chae-rin, whose gaze had been suspicious, grinned.

Then she placed a hand on Gochan’s shoulder and said,

“As expected of Uncle Go. I knew it. Even if you retired, a Flying Assassin Sect assassin could never have ignored it and submitted to the enemy when his own supervising senior had been killed.”

It felt as if a dagger had flown in and lodged in his chest.

Still, for Gochan, this was the only way to escape this situation as much as possible.

Though she was young, if she had become sect leader and inherited the title of Flying Assassin Yeom-gaek, then her martial prowess would have at least reached the peak realm or beyond.

If he could not flee, then he had to at least use his head.

“How could that be? My senior brother cherished me so much.”

He had suspected him, tortured him with tendon-pulling and bone-grinding methods, and even cut off two of his fingers, so cherished him he did.

Thus, even though he had died, Gochan felt neither revenge nor longing.

Still, perhaps those words had some effect, because Ha Chae-rin nodded and then,

-Tap! Tap! Tap!

She pulled the flying needles out of his chest.

As the flying needles came free, his body, which had gone rigid, could move again, and the breath that had only been half entering now flowed properly.

“Haa…….”

“Please don’t feel too offended. I needed to confirm whether Uncle Go had submitted to a young master of the Mok family or whether there was some other reason.”

“………”

Gochan silently steadied his breathing, then asked her,

“…….But, Mi…….no, Sect Leader.”

“Yes?”

“For something like this, I don’t believe it would require the Sect Leader herself to step in, so why?”

“Why?”

“Pardon?”

“Is there some reason I should not come personally?”

“N-no, of course not.”

There was no reason she could not.

It was merely somewhat strange that one who had inherited the title of Flying Assassin Yeom-gaek, called one of the Four Great Assassins, would involve herself in a matter related to a retired assassin when it was not even a top-grade commission.

Of course, considering her disposition, it might also have been something done on a whim.

Ha Chae-rin grinned at Gochan and said,

“Since the iron is hot, let’s pull the horn while it’s still warm, as they say, and head for Yeon Mok Sword Manor.”

At the sight of her overflowing with enthusiasm, Gochan’s complexion darkened.

‘I have to inform that bastard somehow.’

If he did not, then his life might truly be in danger.

* * *

-Pak! Papapapak!

Mok Gyeong-un had been unfolding the basic footwork that could be called the foundation of movement techniques for nearly three shijin.

Though it had only been four days since he began serious martial training, at a glance his posture was so accurate it looked as though he had trained for years.

Watching Mok Gyeong-un like that, Blue Spirit clicked her tongue.

‘What kind of bastard is this?’

The fellow was training in martial arts entirely on his own.

She had expected that, to some degree, he would ask her for help, but there was nothing of the sort.

And yet he had already matured to that extent.

‘……..It’s astounding.’

When she had been alive, she had seen countless people with martial talent.

But this type was the first.

Usually, when beginning martial arts, one trains the basic forms.

A form is a kind of shape, and when such forms connect, they develop into a single move.

That was why learning forms was important.

‘The reason one repeats the same posture is to make the body grow accustomed to it.’

In the martial world, duels to the death were frequent.

In such moments, victory or defeat was often decided in an instant.

Because one could not calculate many things in that instant, the direction of victory and defeat changed completely according to how thoroughly it had entered the body.

That was why martial artists repeatedly repeated their postures while training.

Yet,

‘……..Except for the first time he took the posture, he has not been wrong even once from the second time onward.’

There was not the slightest error in Mok Gyeong-un’s posture.

Though he had repeated that posture dozens of times over three shijin, he had not been even a little off.

That was possible because two conditions were present.

‘His memory is absurd, and his body is embodying that memory exactly as it is.’

It would not be an exaggeration to call that wondrous.

Even if one remembered it in the head, expressing it in the body was a separate problem.

Yet this fellow could do it.

He could move his body exactly according to what he had learned and what he intended.

And there was almost no error.

In several movements, the necessary muscles had not yet developed, so there were sections that required repeated adaptation, but if not for that, training for so long would have been meaningless.

-Hoo.

The smoke thickened.

Only the tobacco in the pipe kept burning down.

Whenever she looked at this fellow, the urge to teach him something kept arising.

Yet she suppressed it.

Only those with the proper qualifications could learn what she possessed.

And in any case, the fellow had once even obtained the Eight Forms of Mind-Breaking, which could be called the highest enlightenment.

That alone could be called tremendous fortune.

-Papak!

After stepping through the postures of the movement technique, Mok Gyeong-un finally composed himself and steadied his breathing.

“Hoo.”

-How long do you plan to keep doing this?

Blue Spirit spoke to him.

And for good reason, because the sun, which had already been high in the sky, was now about to set.

“I suppose you’re right.”

After dealing with Guard Gam and after the demon monk obtained the body of Sang Ung-baek, the Outer Hall Lord, giving him a fair amount of freedom of movement, Mok Gyeong-un had spent four days devoted to martial training now that he had obtained even Yeon Mok Sword Manor’s basic art.

From the beginning, his purpose here had been martial arts, so he was merely being faithful to that.

‘The conditions are good.’

It was best of all because there was no interference.

Of course, Mok Gyeong-un also guessed that this would not last very long.

Most likely, the moment the Manor Lord breathed his last, a series of troublesome events would follow.

‘It wouldn’t be bad to leave at an appropriate time.’

He had already obtained the martial arts, after all.

There was no need for him to remain here.

In any case, there was only one purpose.

-Crack.

To make a wine cup from the skull of the bastard who had killed his grandfather and place it on the ancestral table.

Mok Gyeong-un smiled and said,

“Then shall we go inside and eat?”

At those words, the corners of Blue Spirit’s mouth twitched upward as if she had been waiting to hear it.

* * *

-Munch munch!

Seated across from Mok Gyeong-un, who was holding a book, a maidservant was sitting and concentrating on her meal.

After eating slices of meat and fruit, the maidservant took a drink from a cup of liquor and wore a happy expression.

“Kheu. This really is the taste.”

Watching this maidservant, Mok Gyeong-un let out a small laugh.

At that, the maidservant filled her cup again and said,

“What are you laughing at?”

“You look very happy.”

“One of the three joys of the living is eating. Someday even a sentient creature like you will come to understand the saying that this world is better even if one rolls in a dog-dung field.”

The maidservant was none other than Blue Spirit possessing someone.

At every meal, she entered the body of whichever servant brought the food.

For the past four days, this had been her joy.

-Tudut! Tudut!

The only problem was that it did not last long.

Blue Spirit, occupying the maidservant’s body, clicked her tongue as she looked at the back of the hand holding the wine cup.

“Tsk, tsk.”

Blackened veins were standing out.

An ordinary body could not endure her resentful soul, which had risen to the level of a demon-spirit.

Four days earlier, she had said she would just take any body and entered the body of a pretty maid, but that maid had almost died.

“This one can’t even last one gak.”

“Please endure just a little longer. Until an appropriate body appears.”

“Then hurry up and find me one.”

At those words from her, Mok Gyeong-un smiled.

In truth, he had no intention of finding her a body right away.

Blue Spirit, who was high-ranked and could remain constantly at his side, was his hidden trump card.

“Stop grinning.”

“Yes, yes.”

“More importantly, you are far too interested in occult arts.”

“Because they’re interesting.”

The book Mok Gyeong-un was reading was an occult manual called the Six-Person Spirit Descent Art, which had belonged to the deceased occult practitioner New Moon.

Mok Gyeong-un had asked for all of New Moon’s belongings to be brought to him.

He had obtained many things far more useful than what belonged to the occult practitioner Myo-shin.

Among them were quite a few talisman arts and the talismans related to them.

Those were more than enough to draw Mok Gyeong-un’s interest.

“There are quite a few rather interesting arts here. For example, the dead……”

-Start.

Mok Gyeong-un frowned and turned his head to the side.

At Mok Gyeong-un’s attitude, Blue Spirit’s eyes shone strangely as she said,

“You’ve truly grown sensitive.”

At those words, Mok Gyeong-un closed the book and rose from his seat.

* * *

Half a gak earlier, Guard Gochan’s room.

Gochan brought a set of clothes before Ha Chae-rin.

“These are clothes the maidservants wear.”

She lifted the clothes he had brought and inspected them, then muttered with a snort,

“How tacky. The courtesan clothes were better.”

Gochan glanced sideways at her.

He had to inform Mok Gyeong-un somehow, but she had given him no opening.

Then, as a desperate measure, he had thought of maidservants’ clothes.

While she was changing, he planned to secretly go to Mok Gyeong-un and inform him of this fact.

Gochan lowered his head slightly and said,

“Sect Leader. While you are changing, I will step outside for a moment.”

“Why? Don’t you want to watch?”

“H-how could that be?”

“A chance to watch the naked body of a figure like this doesn’t come often.”

With those words, she deliberately displayed the valley of her breasts.

“Ahem, ahem.”

Teasing people like this had not changed either.

Even now she was like this, so seeing that she had been handed the sect leader’s position, the former sect leader was truly remarkable.

Gochan bent himself low, waved his hands, and tried to step out.

To him, Ha Chae-rin smiled and said,

“Uncle Go. Thank you. Thanks to you, I was able to enter here easily.”

At those words, Gochan felt bitter inside.

He had been brought in half by force regardless of his own will, so it was no situation in which to hear thanks.

“It was nothing. Then I will step out….”

But before he could finish speaking,

-Pupupupupupuk!

‘!?’

Needles embedded in the numbing acupoint.

They were Jade-Glow Flying Needles.

Gochan looked at her with bewildered eyes.

Ha Chae-rin curled her lips mockingly and lowered the right hand wearing the wrist ring.

Then she approached and opened her mouth.

“There is no need for that.”

“W-what are you doing?”

“This is as far as your role goes, Uncle.”

“Pardon?”

“I said, as far as here.”

“S-Sect Leader?”

“Did you really think I would believe such a clumsy excuse from you? Hah.”

‘Damn it.’

Gochan bit his lip hard.

From the beginning, she had not believed his words at all.

She had merely used him in order to slip inside Yeon Mok Sword Manor more easily while avoiding the guard network.

“A man who stayed docile under the one who killed his supervising senior obviously submitted. For a trash bastard who retired because his martial talent was poor, you sure talked as if you had endured everything for revenge. Hah.”

Ha Chae-rin mocked Gochan.

At her laugh, Gochan ground his teeth.

At the sight of the complete personality wreck who had not changed in the slightest from before, his teeth clenched of their own accord.

How had something like this passed Hundred Days, Hundred Kills and become the sect leader of the Flying Assassin Sect……

‘!?’

In that instant, Gochan frowned and spoke.

“Could it be…….you are in the midst of Hundred Days, Hundred Kills?”

The rite of passage required to become the sect leader of the assassin sect Flying Assassin Sect.

That was the test called Hundred Days, Hundred Kills.

At his question, Ha Chae-rin only curled one corner of her mouth without a word.

It was a sign of affirmation.

‘Ha.’

No wonder something had felt strange.

It had been strange that someone in the position of sect leader would come personally to handle a matter like this.

If she were not carrying out Hundred Days, Hundred Kills, there was no way she would have come personally over something like this.

Still smiling with the corner of her mouth raised, Ha Chae-rin said,

“So you’re not a complete idiot after all. That’s right. The sixtieth sacrifice of Hundred Days, Hundred Kills is Mok Gyeong-un, third of Yeon Mok Sword Manor.”

“………”

Gochan felt drained by his own helplessness.

When had things begun to tangle so badly?

Everything had become a mess after that fake Mok Gyeong-un bastard appeared.

Or had it turned out this way because he himself was so weak that even at this age he still could not escape second-rate and was therefore tossed around by everything?

Just then, Ha Chae-rin drew the dagger from Gochan’s waist.

“W-what are you doing?”

At that question, she answered with a mocking grin,

“You killed the young master you served in order to avenge Uncle Gam, then committed suicide. Understood?”

“From the very beginning…..”

-Tatatatatak!

Ha Chae-rin even sealed Gochan’s mute acupoint.

Then she placed her index finger to her lips and whispered,

“Shh. Be quiet. Even though you’re retired, I’m preserving your honor as a member of the Flying Assassin Sect, so be grateful at least.”

With those words, Ha Chae-rin moved to slash Gochan’s throat.

At that very moment.

-Pat! Whiiririk!

The dagger in her hand flew out of her grasp and pierced through the paper door.

‘!?’

-Pak!

Through the hole torn in the paper door, the figure of someone holding the dagger could be seen.

At that, Ha Chae-rin’s eyes widened.

‘Void Grasping Object?’

-Bang!

While she was still shocked, that someone kicked the door open and revealed himself.

It was Mok Gyeong-un himself.

“Guard Gochan. Were you in danger?”

For the first time, Gochan thought this devil-like bastard looked cool.

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